The Bauer Family

Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary!  Hard to believe we have been married for five years.  Doesn't seem like it.  The years are passing way to fast.  Could not imagine being without Michelle and the boys.  It seems like we have been married our whole lives.  Everything that happened before them does not matter.  I thank God everyday for this incredible blessing! Michelle had planned out a very nice Anniversary for us.  We left work early yesterday and headed for Lake Orion.  We stayed at the Palace Inn near the Palace of Auburn Hills.  Not the nicest place we have ever stayed, but it wasn't horrible.  Michelle had got me a gift certificate for 51 North Brewing.  We arrived there in the early evening and found a nice table.  The brewery was different than most we have been to.  It was not very busy and our waitress was very good.  We got our drink order in right away and then ordered appetizers. Our ...

So the alarm clock went off again for our weekday wake up time.  After a half hour I decided to get up and get the day started.  I got a nice fire going and then headed for the basement to get my crunches in.  I was then thwarted by the tv and spent some time on the phone with Charter.  After getting that resolved it was time to make breakfast and get ready for church.  I also made the decision that I was going to ride the Fat Bike home.     We got to church with some time to spare.  We have a few new attendees and a new guest arrived today.  The church is growing!   Scott was rocking for Praise and Worship!   After church I ate a sandwich and changed into my riding gear.  It was around 17 degrees with a wind chill of 9 degrees.  The wind would be out of the northwest at 4 mph and gust to 15 mph.  This was to my advantage as I would be heading NE.   Most of the ride would be on pavement ...

As the sun came up today I could tell it was going to be a good day to get outside and ride. Friday was in the mid 40's and a lot of ice and snow melted.  The plan was to take the Fat Bike out, put on the fenders and get a short ride in.  The temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was out of the NW at 15mph. Still some of the best weather we have had for the weekend. I had aired up the tires to 15+ psi for riding on pavement.  This was a good call and it also took away the self steer of the large tires.  The bike rode great in these conditions and when I got to a gravel road I found all the snow and ice gone.  The tires still went well on the gravel, just a few soft spots.  I will keep experimenting with tire pressure for this kind of riding.  The hardest and most technical part of the ride was navigating our driveway.  I rode for 45 minutes and just under 9 miles.  Just felt good to get outside.  The tempe...

Sunday morning, March 2, 2014 was cold and we had some fresh snow.  It was around 7 degrees when I got up at 5:30am.  I got a nice fires started and woke JJ just before 7am. I had prepped and loaded the bike Saturday night and had all our stuff packed.  We ate breakfast, finished loading the van and headed for Pando Winter Sports Park in Rockford, Michigan.  Rockford is about 15 minutes from Grand Rapids.  The roads were not in good shape so it took a little longer than usual.  I had not been to Pando in over 7 years and had never been there in the winter. I went into the lodge, checked in and picked up our number plates.  I headed back to the van, set up the bike and got into my riding gear.  I told JJ he needed to get changed and I headed out to warm up.  I did a full lap to see what we were in for.  The trail was in great condition and it was 2.25 miles long.  I felt I was ready for this. So the race would start by tubing dow...